Dragon Shadow had fallen asleep on Sephiroth's shoulder by the time Zack landed. Sephiroth was finding it difficult to remain awake as well. As soon as Zack landed, Sephiroth walked over to the edge of the forest, and flew into on of the trees. His hopes of reaming unseen were, however, dashed by the ill timed arrival of Yuffie. As soon as she saw him, Yuffie vanished back into the castle, only to return a few minutes latter with Cid and Barret. Zack had changed back from his Griffin form, and was now desperately trying to figure out how to avoid any trouble. Unfortunately for him, he'd never met Barret before.

Barret walked up to Zack. "Where's Cloud you freak?"

Zack backed up. "He's comings. He's got to walk back."

Cid interrupted Zack's attempt to explain the situation. "Sound's a little too suspicious to me. You show up, with that #@$@ dragon, and trouble making Sephiroth. Then, when you supposedly get into trouble, Cloud, and some of our friends go chasing after him. A day latter, only you three return…"

"They're comings. Honest! It's just that…"

Yuffie butted in at this point. "I never trusted you from day 1! Now you tell us where Sephiroth is, and maybe you'll live. Otherwise…"

Cid began to rub his spear head, Barret his gun, and Yuffie her shuriken. Things definitely did not look good for Zack. But then, Chaos landed…and shifted back to Vincent. "Cloud sent me to let you know he's comings. He didn't want any misunderstandings. Do I make myself clear?"

Barret, Yuffie and Cid nodded, then disappeared. Zack turned to Vincent. "Thanks. I owe you one."

But Vincent shook his head. "No, it is I who owe you, for giving me the chance to correct a past error. Besides, it truly was Cloud who sent me. Where are the other two?"

Zack pointed at a tree. "Up there. Both were so exhausted, Sephiroth though they'd best keep out of sight."

Vincent looked at the tree, disbelief clearly showing on his face. "I do not see how you could…"

"Mini. Sephiroth cast mini on Dragon Shadow. Who then ended up falling asleep on his shoulder. While I was trying to land. Still, after what they've been through, I suppose it's not too surprising."

"No, it is not." Vincent turned, and walked towards the castle. Zack turned around, and when to sit under the tree. A few minutes latter he too fell asleep.

A few hours latter Cloud and the others finally returned. But what they arrived in was the middle of chaos…


CENTER* * * * */CENTER



Barret, Cid, and Yuffie were busy attacking Vincent, in his Gallant Beast form. A hydra was busy holding off a number of warriors from the castle. Dragon Shadow, and Sephiroth were no where in sight. Tifa looked at Red, and Cait. "Do you think Yuffie started all this?"

The other two didn't reply. Cloud walked over to Barret. "Hey! Guys, what the hell is going on?!"

Barret turned around, saw Cloud, and screamed. "Where you been you spiky haired freak!!! Here we thought Mr. I'm gonna bite you in half, and Mr. 8 heads had killed you."

Cloud shook his head. "This all broke out because I was missing?"

"You, Tifa, Red and that damn cat."

Cloud was holding back the urge to laugh. "Well, now that I'm here, you mind stopping the fight?" Yuffie, and Cid had already halted their battle with Vincent. But the hydra posed a new problem. "Where exactly did that hydra come from?"

Vincent turned. "I shall deal with him." Vincent, now in human form, walked over to the men battling the hydra. He then flew up to one of it's heads. With a flash of light, the hydra vanished, and Zack was standing there. Zack walked back over with Vincent towards Cloud. "I'm glad you finally decided to show up. I was getting tired."

Cloud just looked at him shocked. "How did you…?"

"That's a long story, I'd rather not get into. But at least you convinced them that I didn't kill you."

Cloud looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Zack shook his head, then walked over to tree. "When Sephiroth, Dragon Shadow, and I arrived without you, those three" pointing to Barret, Yuffie, and Cid, "though we'd killed you. Vincent's arrival halted that. But when you didn't show up in two hours, they decided that Vincent had helped us kill you. So they were trying to kill us."

Cloud shook his head. "Speaking of Sephiroth, where is he?"

"Up there. With Dragon Shadow." Zack pointed up the tree.

Cloud shook his head again, in disbelief. "How did you get that huge dragon, into that tree."

Zack was about to answer, when Chrono came over. "I'm not even gonna ask what just happened. Because I don't think I'd understand it. But, the king wants to speak to everyone about that battle, two days ago."

Cloud nodded. "Sure. As to what happened, I'm not even sure."

Just then, Sephiroth came flying out of the tree. Dragon Shadow was still curled up around his neck. "We didn't miss anything, did we?"

Cloud, Zack, and the others just started to laugh. The group headed towards the castle, with Chrono and Cloud in the lead, and Sephiroth and Zack trailing at the end.